LEGACY World War I Memorial -- Veteran's Tribute Garden, Garland TX - World War I Memorials and Monuments on Waymarking.com

This World War I memorial was affixed to a concrete pedestal supporting a flagpole at Garland's Central Park for decades, before the pedestal deteriorated and needed to be replaced.

The plaque was removed and taken to a city warehouse while the city decided where to replace the plaque. Just like in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", the plaque disappeared into the vast amount of city-owned stuff, and its location (though not its existence) was eventually forgotten.

One of my friends remembers the Garland World War I memorial in Central Park from his childhood (it was a family meeting place), but told me that by the time he went to high school in the 1970s the memorial was gone.

One day in 2002, the assistant director of the Garland Senior Center was looking for extra chairs and spotted the back of an old bronze plaque in a spidery corner at the back of the gym, leaning with its text against the wall. She leaned it away from the wall and discovered it was the Garland WWI memorial flagpole plaque from Central Park that had been missing for 35 years.

The AD snagged it and kept it in her office for a year as she and the City worked on a project to display this plaque at the Senior Center (which is of course full of veterans).

From this discovery of a lost war memorial, the Garland Veteran's Tribute Garden was born. The city hired a park and landscape architect, funded the project with some serious cash, and now has a prominet and respectful place to display not only this plaque, but the new WW II specific memorial plaque nearby.

The Veteran's Tribute garden was formally dedicated, and this plaque honoring Garland's dead of WWI rededicated, on 18 Nov 2006. I (Mama Blaster) was on the Garland City Council at the time, and being a Navy Persian Gulf War veteran, was invited to speak. I ]t was a powerful moment to be there, in the presence of the Moving Wall Vietnam Memorial )which was making a special visit), so many veterans from the 20th century wars, and this forgotten plaque, rescued and returned to public memory.

The plaque reads as follows:

"Dedicated to Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines who fought in the World War

In Memoriam

Anderson, Ferris
Belcher, George
Cabaniss, John D.
Compton, Barche L.
Copus, Oscar H.
Edwards, James E.
Grace, Robert R.
Isom, Moffitt H.
Lyles, Clay T.
Meason, Roy V.
McPherson, Delbert I.
Merritt, Thomas M.
Odell, Walter S.
Pace, Thomas J. J.
Ross, Lonnie B.
Rogers, Dewey
Spence, Clark
Wells, Ernie

[VFW MEDALLION]
John D. Cabaniss Post No. 326
March 25, 1933"

2023 Update: In 2021 the Garland Senior Activity Center was on schedule to be renovated after receiving $4 million dollars in 2019 bond funding, but inspections revealed the building was riddled with mold, water, and had sustained structural damage far beyond what was expected or what could be fixed. Ultimately, the Garland City Council decided that the building could not be renovated and needed to be replaced.

The building was razed in February 2023. Prior to being razed, every memorial located in the Veterans Memory Garden, all memorial benches, plaques, and stand-alone monuments were respectfully removed and placed in storage. The current council is discussing over the next few weeks where a suitable place for the Garland Veterans Memorial could be.

The process of replacing, relocating, and re-opening the Garland Veterans Memorial Garden could take up to 5 years.

Date the Monument or Memorial was built or dedicated: 03/25/1933 Private or Public Monument?: Private Name of the Private Organization or Government Entity that built this Monument: VFW post No. 326 Geographic Region where the Monument is located: North America Website for this Monument: [Web Link] Physical Address of Monument: Veteran's Tribute Garden 600 W Ave A Garland, TX Rate this waymark: Photo or photos will be uploaded.: yes

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Date Logged Log User Rating   04/01/2023 Benchmark Blasterz visited it 04/01/2023 Benchmark Blasterz visited it 01/19/2017 Benchmark Blasterz visited it

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